A DECOLONIAL COMPARISON BETWEEN MODERN FOUNDATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS PHYSICS AND THE ONTOLOGICAL SCIENCE OF GURMAT
Davinder Singh Panesar
Abstract
The publication of Maria Strømme’s 2025 paper, Universal Consciousness as Foundational Field (AIP Advances), accompanied by widespread reporting in Phys.org, has been interpreted as the emergence of a “new theory of consciousness” within modern physics. This theory proposes that consciousness, not matter, is the foundational substrate of reality, from which time, space, and physical phenomena emerge. Although revolutionary within a Western scientific paradigm, these claims exhibit deep resonance with Gurmat, the ontological, nondual consciousness science articulated by Guru Nanak and expanded throughout the Guru Granth Sahib.
This article argues that Strømme’s theory is not conceptually new, but rather a late scientific rediscovery of principles long established in Gurmat metaphysics. Further, it demonstrates how colonial reductionism obscured Gurmat’s ontological structure by reframing it as a religion rather than a consciousness-based science. Through a comparative analysis of Strømme’s physics, contemporary nondual science, and Gurmat ontology, the article proposes a methodological pathway for a decolonised, integrative science of consciousness that unites first-person contemplative methods with third-person empirical science.
1. Introduction: The Supposed “Newness” of Consciousness-First Science
In November 2025, the scientific community was taken by surprise when Professor Maria Strømme of Uppsala University published a theory arguing that the brain does not produce consciousness, nor is it an emergent property of matter, but is instead the foundational field from which physical reality arises (Strømme, 2025; Phys.org summary). According to her model:
• Consciousness exists before matter.
• Time and space emerge from a universal consciousness field.
• Individual minds are localised manifestations or excitations of a deeper, undivided field.
• Phenomena like NDEs, nonlocal awareness, intuition, and telepathic experiences may be natural consequences of this universal field.
• The theory generates testable predictions in physics, neuroscience, and cosmology.
The Phys.org headline captured the boldness of the claim:
“Consciousness as the foundation: New theory addresses the nature of reality.”
(Phys.org, 2025)
Within the Western analytic and scientific context — long dominated by physicalism — this represents a seismic conceptual shift. For nearly two centuries, the prevailing worldview insisted:
Brain → generates consciousness
Matter → produces mind
Energy → precedes awareness
Strømme reverses this:
Consciousness → generates the conditions for matter
Consciousness → precedes space-time
Consciousness → is primary, universal, formative
Yet, while astonishing within materialist paradigms, this view is not new within the philosophical, contemplative, or spiritual sciences of Asia.
In particular, Gurmat (Guru Nanak’s ontological science of consciousness) articulated a foundational structure almost identical to the one articulated over 550 years ago.
Gurmat holds:
• Ik Ongkaar — a single, self-existent, conscious reality is the substratum of all that is.
• Time and space unfold within consciousness (Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Hai Bhi Sach, Nanak Hosi Bhi Sach).
• The universe emerges through vibrational consciousness (Shabad, Naam).
• Individual beings are differentiated waves in this universal awareness.
• Nonlocal knowing, intuition, expanded states, and mystical experiences are natural functions of consciousness, not anomalies.
Thus, what the Western scientific world is calling a breakthrough is essentially the decolonised re-emergence of ancient ontological knowledge, long embedded within Gurmat.
The purpose of this article is therefore threefold:
1. To demonstrate the strong conceptual parallels between Strømme’s foundational consciousness model and Gurmat ontology.
2. To reveal how colonial reductionism erased Gurmat’s status as a consciousness science, reframing it as a “religion.”
3. To propose a methodological bridge between Gurmat’s experiential science and modern physics, psychology, and neuroscience.
This is not an attempt to appropriate scientific discoveries into religious categories, nor to sacralise physics. Rather, it is to show:
What is being hailed as a scientific revolution is actually a reconvergence with the perennial ontology already articulated with precision by the Gurus.
2. The “New Theory” Summarised: Consciousness as Foundational Field
According to Strømme and the AIP Advances paper:
2.1 Consciousness precedes matter
The theory proposes that the universe did not begin with matter or energy, but with a field of consciousness. Space-time emerges as a relational structure within this field.
2.2 The universe is embedded in a universal consciousness field
All minds, all organisms, and all experiences arise as fluctuations, localisations, or excitations within a deeper field — analogous to how photons arise from the electromagnetic field.
This view closely resembles quantum field theory, but with consciousness instead of energy as the underlying substance.
2.3 Consciousness is not confined to the brain
Brains “interface with” consciousness; they do not produce it.
This challenges decades of reductive neuroscience.
2.4 Nonlocal phenomena become scientifically natural
Strømme explicitly notes that phenomena long considered paranormal — such as:
• telepathy
• intuitive knowing
• out-of-body experiences
• near-death expanded awareness
may simply be manifestations of this shared field.
(Reported in Phys.org, 2025)
2.5 The theory is testable
This is the centrepiece of Strømme’s argument:
if consciousness is a foundational field, then measurable physical consequences should arise. The theory predicts signatures in:
• quantum systems
• neural systems
• cosmological structures
• entanglement patterns
It claims not to be metaphysics, but science.
2.6 Strømme acknowledges alignment with ancient traditions
As the Phys.org summary reports:
“Strømme says the theory resonates with ancient philosophies that place consciousness at the center of reality.”
(Phys.org, 2025)
This is a remarkable admission:
modern physics is rediscovering ancient ontologies — yet lacking a framework to integrate them.
This is precisely where Gurmat enters as a fully developed, coherent, consciousness-first paradigm.
3. Gurmat Ontology: Consciousness as Primal Reality
Far from being a set of religious prescriptions, the core of Gurmat is an ontological science of consciousness, describing:
• the nature of reality
• the structure of mind
• the emergence of ego
• the transformation of identity
• the relationship between consciousness and matter
• the phenomenology of awakening
3.1 Ik Ongkaar — Nondual Conscious Substratum
Guru Nanak begins not with commandments or ethics but with an ontological axiom:
ੴ (Ik Ongkaar)
One Conscious Reality continuously unfolding itself.
This is a metaphysical declaration:
Unity precedes duality.
Consciousness precedes manifestation.
3.2 Aad Sach — Reality existed before time
The opening of Japji Sahib states:
Aad Sach — Conscious Reality existed before time.
This parallels Strømme’s claim:
Consciousness existed before space-time.
3.3 Jugaad Sach — Consciousness sustains the universe
This is a dynamical, non-static ontology.
3.4 Naam and Shabad — Vibrational consciousness as creative principle
In Gurmat, the universe unfolds through:
• Shabad (vibrational intelligence)
• Naam (the organising principle or “field structure” of consciousness)
These are not metaphors — they describe the modes of manifestation of a nondual consciousness field, akin to modern physics describing how quantum fields generate particles.
3.5 Haumai — the illusion of separated consciousness
Gurmat identifies the human ego as:
• A misidentification
• A localised wave forgetting its oceanic nature
• A disturbance in the consciousness field
3.6 Gurmukh Path — Return to alignment with consciousness
The Gurmat path is:
from localised ego → to expansive consciousness → to nondual awareness
This is a phenomenological methodology — a trauma-sensitive, identity-transforming, consciousness-expanding process.
3.7 Experiential verification
Far from blind belief, Gurmat insists on direct experience:
Aap khoj khoj milai
Seek within and know through experience.
This is a first-person science, compatible with neurophenomenology.
4. Parallels Between Strømme’s Theory and Gurmat Ontology
Below is a synthesis of parallels between the two frameworks:
Concept Strømme’s Theory (2025) Gurmat Ontology Convergence
Foundation of Reality Universal consciousness field precedes matter Ik Ongkaar as primal consciousness Identical structural claim
Emergence of Space-Time Arises from consciousness field Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach Gurmat anticipates physics
Nature of Mind Localised excitation in the field Jiv-Atma as ripple of Paramatma Perfect parallel
Mystical/NDE Phenomena Natural outcomes of field nonlocality Sunn, Anhad, Darshan, Avasthas Phenomenology matches physics
Ego Misreading local excitation as separate Haumai — fundamental misidentification Deep agreement
Methodology Empirical science + mathematical formalism First-person contemplative science Complementary methods
Telepathy / Nonlocal Knowing Possible via shared field “Sunn Samadh Anhad Tah Naad” Gurmat gives experiential map
Gurmat is not attempting to “become physics.”
Physics is quietly re-entering the domain Gurmat already articulated.
5. How Colonial Reductionism Hid Gurmat’s Consciousness Science
To understand why Strømme’s 2025 theory appears “revolutionary” to the modern scientific community — yet familiar and even obvious through the Gurmat lens — one must recognise the role of colonial epistemology in shaping what counts as “knowledge,” “science,” and “truth.”
5.1 Coloniality and the invention of “religion”
The British encounter with South Asian traditions did not take place in a vacuum. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, colonial administrators, missionaries, Orientalists, philologists, and anthropologists constructed the category of “religion” to classify non-Christian traditions. This resulted in:
• the flattening of ontological knowledge into belief,
• the erasure of metaphysical and contemplative science,
• the decontextualisation of experiential methodology,
• the mistranslation of technical consciousness vocabulary,
• the reduction of complex ontological systems to moral or social codes.
Gurmat, which is fundamentally a consciousness-first, ontological, phenomenological science, was re-labelled as a “religion” and distorted into:
• a moral-ethical system,
• a community identity,
• a sociopolitical tradition,
• a historical faith narrative.
This was not accidental but structurally embedded in the colonial project.
5.2 Reductionism: the epistemic violence against consciousness traditions
The British worldview, shaped by Enlightenment rationality and Christian theology, already accepted:
• matter as primary,
• consciousness as derivative,
• the sensory world as real,
• introspective knowledge as subjective,
• inner science as “mysticism.”
Thus, when encountering Gurmat, colonial interpreters reframed:
• Naam as “God’s Name,”
• Shabad as “sacred word or hymn,”
• Hukam as “command,”
• Atma as “soul,”
• Paramatma as “God,”
• Sunn Samadhi as “trance,”
• Brahm Gyani as a “saint.”
But in their original context, these terms describe:
• field properties,
• consciousness dynamics,
• ontological categories,
• phenomenological states,
• identity configurations,
• vibrational intelligence,
• information structures of reality.
This mistranslation delayed scientific recognition of Gurmat ontology for centuries.
5.3 Colonised minds and modern scientific blindness
The colonised epistemology persists in today’s scientific discourse, which still assumes:
• objective (external) data is superior to subjective (experiential) data,
• consciousness must be explained by matter,
• contemplative knowledge is anecdotal,
• indigenous epistemologies are inferior.
But as Strømme’s work demonstrates, the West is now being forced — through physics — to reconsider consciousness as fundamental.
This is exactly what Gurmat has declared for 550 years, but colonial lenses prevented its recognition.
6. Comparative Analysis: Strømme’s Consciousness Physics vs Gurmat Ontology
To illustrate the depth of convergence, this section offers a more systematic comparison across eight dimensions: ontology, cosmology, epistemology, phenomenology, mind, identity, ethics, and methodology.
6.1 Ontology: What is ultimately real?
Strømme (2025):
• Consciousness is the foundational field of existence.
• Matter emerges from consciousness.
Gurmat:
• Ik Ongkaar — Consciousness is the only real substratum.
• Matter is transient expression, not the source.
Convergence:
The core ontological claim is identical.
6.2 Cosmology: How does the universe emerge?
Strømme:
• Space-time unfolds from the dynamics of the consciousness field.
• The universe is a structured excitation pattern.
Gurmat:
• Shabad (vibrational consciousness) manifests the universe.
• Naam is the organising intelligence underlying cosmogenesis.
Convergence:
Both models propose vibration/information → matter instead of matter → mind.
6.3 Epistemology: How do we know reality?
Strømme:
• Through physics, mathematics, and empirical prediction.
• But she acknowledges subjective experience as evidential.
Gurmat:
• Through direct inner experience (Aap khoj khoj milai).
• Contemplative science validates ontological truth.
Convergence:
Both allow multiple modes of knowing:
• third-person empirical
• first-person phenomenological
Gurmat simply developed the phenomenological methods far earlier.
6.4 Phenomenology: What does consciousness experience?
Strømme:
• Nonlocal experiences, near-death clarity, telepathic transfer are natural expressions of shared field dynamics.
Gurmat:
• Sunn, Anhad Naad, Darshan, Turiya, Sehaj, Anand — precisely mapped states of consciousness beyond ego.
Convergence:
Gurmat provides the experiential atlas for the terrain Strømme theorises scientifically.
6.5 Psychology of Mind: What is the mind?
Strømme:
• Mind = localised excitation pattern within the universal field.
• Brain = interface device, not generator.
Gurmat:
• Mann, Chit, Buddhi emerge within Consciousness.
• Ego (haumai) is a distortion or contraction of the universal field.
Convergence:
Mind is not physical matter.
It is a pattern of consciousness.
6.6 Identity: Who are we?
Strømme:
• Individual identity is not primary — it is a perturbation in the field.
Gurmat:
• Jiv-Atma is a wave of Paramatma.
• Identity expands from ego → Gurmukh → pure consciousness → non-dual.
Convergence:
Personal ego is an illusion of separateness.
6.7 Ethics: How should one live?
Strømme:
Her theory does not articulate an ethical system.
Gurmat:
Ethical embodiment arises naturally from ontological alignment:
• compassion,
• seva,
• non-harm,
• humility,
• presence,
• sacredness of all beings.
Synthesis:
If consciousness is one, ethics follow naturally:
what is done to the “other” is done to oneself.
6.8 Methodology: How is truth verified?
Framework Method
Strømme Physics, equations, predictions, empirical signatures
Gurmat Meditation, inner stabilisation, experiential verification, transformation of identity
Together:
They form a complete science of consciousness:
• physics → structure
• Gurmat → experience
This synthesis could birth a new paradigm.
7. Towards an Integrative Framework: Decolonising Consciousness Science
The real opportunity lies not in claiming priority but in constructing a decolonised integrative science where:
• Gurmat contributes ontology and phenomenology,
• physics contributes formal structure,
• neuroscience contributes biological correlates,
• psychology contributes developmental insight,
• contemplative science contributes methodology.
This section articulates how such integration may proceed.
7.1 Decolonising epistemology
A decolonised science must:
1. Acknowledge the validity of first-person experiential knowledge.
2. Recognise indigenous ontological systems as scientific frameworks, not “beliefs.”
3. Reject the hierarchy that places Western empiricism above all other knowledge forms.
4. Translate without distorting, respecting original conceptual structures.
5. Restore consciousness to its rightful place as an ontological category.
7.2 Integrating physics and Gurmat ontology
A viable research agenda could include:
(a) Mapping Shabad to vibration/information structures
How does vibrational consciousness described in Gurbani correspond to information-theoretic fields in quantum physics?
(b) Studying meditative states via neurophenomenology
How do states like Sunn Samadhi correlate with changes in neural integration, synchronisation, or quantum-level coherence?
(c) Examining identity-dissolution experiences
Does ego dissolution correspond to perturbations in localised field structure?
(d) Testing predictions of nonlocal awareness
Does consciousness exhibit quantum entanglement-like properties?
This is no longer speculative — Strømme’s work makes these questions scientifically legitimate.
7.3 Integrating Gurmat with psychology and mental health
Gurmat’s understanding of mind-body psychophysiology offers tools absent in Western psychology:
• a complete model of ego formation (haumai),
• a system of emotional regulation (gurmukh re-alignment),
• a developmental model of identity transformation,
• an explanation of trauma as contraction of consciousness,
• a path to coherence (Naam and Shabad-based stabilisation),
• a model of PNI based on consciousness-field dynamics.
This aligns with emerging research in:
• somatic therapies,
• coherence physiology,
• trauma release,
• contemplative neuroscience.
8. Implications for Human Development, Spiritual Evolution, and Global Knowledge Systems
If consciousness is indeed the ground of reality, then:
8.1 The meaning of human life shifts
Humans are not biological accidents.
They are conscious beings participating in the self-unfolding of universal consciousness.
8.2 Death is redefined
Death is not annihilation.
It is transition of identity within the field.
8.3 Spiritual evolution becomes scientifically plausible
States described in Gurbani — Gurmukh, Sant, Purekh, Brahm Gyani — become legitimate developmental possibilities, not mythic ideals.
8.4 Global transformation becomes possible
A consciousness-first world dissolves:
• nihilism,
• materialism,
• radical individualism,
• reductionist fragmentation,
• ecological exploitation.
A consciousness-science based on Gurmat ontology supports compassion, coherence, ecological harmony, and human flourishing.
9. Towards a Unified Consciousness Framework: Integrating Gurmat and Modern Science
With Strømme’s 2025 theory formally declaring consciousness as the foundational field of reality—and with Gurmat having articulated the same ontological architecture centuries earlier—the opportunity emerges for a genuinely unified, decolonised consciousness science.
A unified framework does not attempt to collapse one system into another.
Rather, it recognises that:
• Physics describes structures and conditions of manifestation.
• Gurmat describes the ontological nature and experiential journey of consciousness.
• Neuroscience describes biological interfaces within the field.
• Psychology describes patterns of identity, emotion, and perception.
• Contemplative practice provides methods for altering and verifying states of consciousness.
Bringing them together provides a complete epistemological and methodological ecosystem.
9.1 Core Principles of a Unified Consciousness Science
Principle 1: Consciousness is ontologically primary
The central axiom:
Consciousness precedes matter.
Gurmat articulates this through Ik Ongkār, Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach.
Strømme formalises it through mathematics and quantum structures.
This principle dissolves the “hard problem of consciousness” entirely—because the hard problem arises only when one attempts to derive consciousness from matter, a philosophical impossibility.
Principle 2: Reality emerges through vibrational/informational patterns
In Gurmat:
• Shabad is the vibrational seed of manifestation.
• Naam is the underlying informational intelligence.
In Strømme’s physics:
• The consciousness field gives rise to structured excitations and waveforms.
• Particles, time, and matter emerge from these patterns.
This principle aligns Gurmat metaphysics with information-theoretic and quantum-field cosmology.
Principle 3: Individual consciousness = localised field excitation
Gurmat:
• Jiv-Atma is a wave of Paramatma.
• Ego (haumai) is mistaken local identification.
Strømme:
• Minds are localised modulations of the field.
• Brain is an interface, not generator.
This principle offers a scientific explanation for:
• mystical experiences,
• non-dual states,
• intuition,
• telepathic resonance,
• near-death clarity.
Principle 4: Consciousness can know itself
Gurmat insists that consciousness possesses inherent luminosity and reflexivity.
This is the basis of:
• meditation
• self-realisation
• inner observation
• nondual awareness
Modern cognitive science terms this “metacognition,” yet cannot explain why it exists.
In a consciousness-first ontology, reflexive knowing is not a puzzle; it is inherent.
Principle 5: Transformation is structural, not symbolic
In Gurmat, the journey from Manmukh → Gurmukh → Sant → Brahm Gyani describes literal transformations of consciousness states—not moral roles.
Each stage reflects:
• changes in field coherence,
• dissolution of egoic contraction,
• expansion of identity,
• integration of perception into non-dual awareness.
A unified science may eventually describe these transformations through:
• changes in neural coherence,
• quantum-level synchrony,
• PNI (psychoneuroimmunology) changes,
• HRV patterns,
• phenomenological descriptors.
Principle 6: Healing = restoration of consciousness coherence
This is a major convergence with modern trauma science.
In Gurmat:
• Haumai produces fragmentation, suffering, dysregulation.
• Naam realignment produces harmony.
In neuroscience:
• Trauma = dysregulation, fragmentation, loss of integration.
• Healing = restoration of coherence.
In physics:
• Perturbations in the field → disorder
• Re-alignment → stability
Thus healing is fundamentally energetic and ontological, not merely psychological.
10. Key Contributions of Gurmat to the Global Science of Consciousness
If modern physics is now discovering consciousness-first models, Gurmat provides missing components that contemporary science lacks:
10.1 Gurmat provides a complete metaphysical ontology
Physics can describe structures but cannot articulate:
• purpose,
• meaning,
• identity,
• moral grounding,
• the nature of the self,
• the relationship between consciousness and Being.
Gurmat does.
10.2 Gurmat provides a full phenomenological map
Strømme’s model predicts nonlocal, expanded states, but cannot map them.
Gurmat articulates:
• Sunn,
• Anhad,
• Turiya,
• Sehaj,
• Vismad,
• Sahaj Samadhi,
• Sunn Samadhi,
• Brahm Gyan
—each precisely describing transformations of awareness, perception, identity, and relationality.
10.3 Gurmat provides a developmental model of consciousness
Modern science has no equivalent of:
• Manmukh (ego-bound identity)
• Gurmukh (aligned, coherent consciousness)
• Sant (purified awareness)
• Saadh (stabilised presence)
• Bhagat (devotional unity)
• Purekh (transparent perception)
• Brahm Gyani (identity dissolved into the field)
These reflect ascending levels of ontological coherence.
10.4 Gurmat provides the method — the technology of consciousness
Strømme’s theory posits a consciousness field.
Gurmat provides:
• tools,
• practices,
• inner techniques
that allow consciousness to directly experience and verify the field:
• Simran
• Shabad Dhyaan
• Naam Ras
• Breath-regulated awareness
• Identity dissolution
• Heart coherence
• Deep phenomenological inquiry
This is a science of experience, not belief.
10.5 Gurmat provides the ethical foundation missing in physics
A consciousness-first world requires:
• compassion,
• humility,
• service,
• non-harm,
• equanimity.
Without this ethical grounding, physics can offer power but not purpose.
Gurmat aligns ethics with ontology:
If all beings are expressions of one consciousness, harming another is harming oneself.
This is the natural ethics of a unified consciousness field.
11. Implications for Psychology, Mental Health, and Human Transformation
The convergence between Gurmat ontology and consciousness-first physics reshapes every field of human knowledge.
11.1 Psychology
Western psychology is fundamentally materialist.
If consciousness is primary, then:
• trauma becomes contraction of consciousness
• anxiety becomes fragmentation of awareness
• ego becomes a defensive field-perturbation
• healing becomes restoration of coherence
• meditation becomes neurological re-harmonisation
Gurmat therapy has already demonstrated these principles in over 40 MSc dissertations, showing subjective evidence of:
• emotional stabilisation,
• psychophysiological regulation,
• identity transformation,
through consciousness-based practice.
11.2 Psychiatry
The DSM pathologises experiences that Gurmat sees as stages of transformation (e.g., ego dissolution, mystical states).
A decolonised psychiatry must distinguish:
• psychosis
• ego-dissolution
• mystical insight
• ontological expansion
Consciousness-first science allows this nuance.
11.3 Education
Education becomes the cultivation of:
• attention,
• awareness,
• self-regulation,
• emotional intelligence,
• existential understanding.
Children can be taught ontology, not only information.
11.4 Death and dying
If identity is a field excitation, death is not extinction but transition.
This aligns modern NDE research with Gurmat’s ontological teaching:
“Jeevat sang na dehee naale, marte sang chalai.”
(Only consciousness travels beyond death.)
11.5 Spiritual evolution
If consciousness is fundamental, then human purpose is clear:
to realise one’s essence as consciousness itself.
Gurmat articulates the roadmap.
Physics now provides the scaffolding.
12. Full Conclusion
Maria Strømme’s 2025 theory is a monumental development in modern science—but its “newness” must be critically contextualised.
From the vantage point of Gurmat ontology, the theory is not new at all.
Rather, it is a re-emergence of principles known, practiced, and validated for over five centuries:
• Consciousness is the ground of reality.
• The universe is a vibrational manifestation.
• Identity is a temporary contraction.
• Ego is the illusion of separateness.
• Mystical experience reflects ontological truth, not hallucination.
• Healing is realignment with the field.
• Ethics arise from unity.
• Self-realisation and non-dual awareness are the highest human potential.
The only difference is language:
• Physics speaks in equations.
• Gurmat speaks in consciousness.
• Neuroscience speaks in networks.
• Psychology speaks in identities.
• Mystics speak in experience.
But the reality is the same.
A decolonised science will not reject indigenous ontologies as “religion” nor glorify physics as the final authority.
Instead, it will integrate them into a holistic, coherent, multi-perspectival understanding of reality.
The future of consciousness
(C) 2025 D S Panesar
Gurmat Psychology Series